SINGAPORE: Asia's naphtha crack recovered marginally to $75.60 a tonne on Friday after falling to a 1-1/2 week low the previous day.
- Expectations of lower levels of European naphtha cargoes coming to Asia in May due to strong demand for gasoline from the US had provided some support, traders said.
- Naphtha is also a blendstock for gasoline.
NAPHTHA TENDERS: India's MRPL sold 35,000 tonnes of naphtha for May 17-19 loading from New Mangalore to Marubeni at premiums of $13 a tonne to Middle East quotes on a free-on-board (FOB) basis.
- This was higher than the $6.50 and $10.50 a tonne premium MRPL had fetched respectively for two April cargoes sold to Vitol and BP.
- Reliance Industries has sold 55,000 tonnes of naphtha for early April loading at similar premiums to MRPL at levels around $13 a tonne on a FOB basis, traders said.
- the buyer of the Reliance cargo was not immediately known, they added.
GASOLINE CRACK: Asia's gasoline crack extended losses to a six-session low of $10.48 a barrel.
STOCK LEVELS: Gasoline stocks held independently n the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp hub storage surged 11.6 percent to 1.1 million tonnes in the week to April 6, data from Dutch consultancy PJK International showed.
- This was in line with rising stocks in Singapore but contrasted the strong demand for the fuel in the US
- At least 16 tankers carrying some 600,000 tonnes of gasoline blending components including naphtha have been booked in recent days by traders including Glencore, ExxonMobil, Mercuria, Repsol and Total, shipping data shows.
- That compared with an average of around 300,000 tonnes per week booked throughout March.
REFINERY NEWS: Taiwan's Formosa Petrochemical will lower its April refinery run rate to about 70.4 percent of its total capacity from about 72.3 percent in March due to maintenance.
- It operates a 540,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery in Mailiao.
CASH DEALS: Four deals, of which two were on naphtha and two on gasoline.
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